Safety fear over Clenchwarton treatment works expansion bid

Anglian Water King's Lynn Waste Water Treatment Works and Biosolids Treatment Centre at Clenchwarton ANL-150715-140809009

Proposals which could see a near 30 per cent rise in the amount of material processed at a West Norfolk treatment centre have been branded “a danger” by community leaders.

Planners have backed the latest bid to expand operations at the site in Clenchwarton, ahead of a committee meeting later this week.

But opponents have repeated their demand for a new road to the plant, in order to reduce the impact on local people.

The new application, which goes before Norfolk County Council’s planning committee on Friday, relates to a condition of the consent it gave for a £4.5 million extension of the Clockcase Lane site in January.

Under the current restrictions, a maximum of 222,500 cubic metres of liquid sludge can be brought to the centre for processing each year.

Anglian Water now wants to raise that limit to more than 315,000 cubic metres a year.

The company says that is necessary to cover periods when the new facility, which deals with dried material, is undergoing maintenance.

But Clenchwarton parish council said it “strongly objected” to the proposal, which it claimed would trigger a “huge” increase in the number of lorries using what it sees as an unsuitable road.

It said: “An increase in HGVs would pose a danger to other users. A new road should be built to take vehicles away from residential properties.”

However, roads officials have not objected to the application.

And planning officers said that, although approval would raise the number of lorry movements from the level allowed in January, there would be a slight drop in the overall number of trucks servicing the site.

They say that is due to dried material taking up less space than the liquid form and measures for trailers to be cleaned on site and used to take a fertiliser by-product of the process away for use on farmland.

The application has been referred to the committee following a request from local member Alexandra Kemp.